


Bloodline

by Kayenes



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, Romance, Sex, Twilight Zone References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27319936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayenes/pseuds/Kayenes
Summary: Ten years have changed him, and in one night, with no warning, he changes her too. /Halloween One-Shot/ Rated M/EO
Relationships: Olivia Benson/Elliot Stabler
Kudos: 6





	Bloodline

**Author’s Note: Hi all, I’ve been in a super-duper Halloween mood since October 1st and wanted to do a one shot for EO. Some super awesome people on twitter gave me some awesome prompts (Werewolves, Mummies, Vampires, Twilight Zone and so on) and since all of them really tickled my fancy, I tried to incorporate them all in some way or another. This is probably one of the darkest things I’ve ever written as well as most AU (and probably OOC but at least I admit it! he he). With that being said, the pandemic does not exist in this universe although it is very much in current and future times. I was going to wait and post this next Friday, but I couldn’t wait. This is a one shot, so no more chapters after this. I repeat there will be no follow up. It’s my Halloween present to you. It is very M rated. I also edited this a hundred times, so if there are any typos, I’m sorry. Hope those of you who read this, enjoy! EO.**

**Thanks to Erin for reading this first to encourage me it was worth posting.**

**Also, big thanks to Kukrae for helping me edit the dookie out of this and for brainstorming with me.**

**Bloodline**

**By Kayenes**

**Friday, October 30, 2020. 5:45 p.m.**

“Thank you for tagging along tonight.” 

“Not a problem, Olivia. I’d actually be a little disappointed if you hadn't asked me.” 

Olivia smiles, “I’d be a little bummed if I had to sit with a bunch of grade schoolers and middle schoolers by myself if I’m being honest.” 

“I take that as a compliment.” 

“Please do,” she smirks, swaying a bit as the tall man before her nudges her shoulder with his own as they stand inside the double glass doors to the front of her son’s school. 

“I’m surprised you were able to get out of the precinct on time. When you invited me to tag along last week, I thought 6 p.m. was a little generous. I imagine the number of cases spike this time of year for you.”

“Oooh… you have no idea,” Olivia retorts. “We already had a call about an incident in an alley a few blocks from the precinct right before I left. Luckily Fin and Rollins took charge so I could be here for Noah.”

“So, what are you supposed to be anyways?” 

Olivia looks down at her outfit that really isn’t a costume, just a modified version of her everyday life. “I’m a vampire Detective. See?” she asks as she opens her dark suit jacket and reveals a toy stake tucked into her inside pocket. 

“I thought vampires burst into flames when staked through the heart?” Edgar says with a deep laugh.

Olivia furrows her brows, “They do, don’t they? Well, consider me a slayer then.” 

“Well okay, Benson, the Vampire Slayer.” 

“Mom!” 

Olivia turns around and Noah comes running from the gymnasium with two of his friends, all dressed up like mummies, toilet paper wrapped around their normal clothes with dark makeup around their eyes. 

“Hey sweetie. You’re all mummies.” 

“Yeah, we all wanted to be the same so we could find each other easily. What are you?” 

“A ….  _ Vampire slayer. _ ” 

“A what?” 

Olivia opens her jacket and shows him the wooden stake then closes it back up, “I hunt vampires.” 

“That’s not a costume! Where’s your makeup?” 

“I… I forgot it. You know what? Slayers really don't need makeup; they’re supposed to blend in so they don’t scare off the vampires.” 

“Ooh,” he nods glancing at his two friends. “What are you supposed to be, Edgar?” Noah asks, turning his attention to his mother’s companion for the night. 

Edgar pulls out a pair of fake teeth from his pocket and puts them in his mouth. In that moment, Olivia notices his thickened sideburns and red eye contact lenses. 

“I’m a werewolf,” he mumbles around the plastic teeth. 

“Nice!’ Noah exclaims. Turning his attention back to his mom, “After the party, my friend Jake wants to have a sleepover at his house with a couple of our friends. Can I?” 

Olivia swallows, glancing over at Edgar, not wanting to give him the wrong impression that they’ll have the apartment alone tonight. Zoning in on her son, she grabs his shoulders while she speaks, “Did you ask Jake’s parents?” 

“Yes, his mom is here tonight and she said yes.” 

“Well, let me talk to her and we’ll figure something out, okay?” 

“She said yes already.” 

“I know, but I want to hear it from her first.” 

“Mom,” he starts to whine before Olivia pulls him to the side. 

“Noah, it’s just… let me see if you and the boys can come over to our house instead. We have room. Just, the last time I let you stay with someone…” 

“Grandma Sheila,” he adds knowingly even for his young age. 

“Yes, exactly. I just want to make sure you’re safe. Okay? Especially since it’s Halloween weekend.” 

“Alright…” he relents. “I’m going to go play games with my friends.” 

“Where?” 

“In there,” Noah responds, pointing to this right. 

Olivia looks up and sees all of the tables with crafts and games laid out and kids milling about in the school gymnasium. “Okay, go. I’ll see you there in a little bit.” 

Noah nods and scurries back into the gym with his two friends. They meet up with a couple others before they all disappear into the crowd of kids with various costumes on. 

Turning toward Edgar, she watches as he sidles up next to her with a knowing smile, “He’s a great kid.” 

“Yeah,” Olivia sighs, brushing her hair out of her eyes, “He is great. He’s just… growing up too fast.” 

“They all do,” he says quietly, locking onto her eyes with her own. She finds herself staring into Edgar’s dark red contact lenses before she realizes she’s doing it. Feeling her body relax, her hand reaches for his and she smiles when he clasps hers inside of his warm, brown fingers. 

“Wanna grab a drink and head up to the roof?” 

“The roof?” Olivia inquires with an arch brow. 

“Uh,” he laughs, “It’s an old hideout. When I went here, we’d sneak up there every Halloween to watch the trick or treaters. We probably got into some mischief but it’s a nice spot. A lot cooler out there than in here with a bunch of kids running around.” 

Olivia thinks on it for a quick second before nodding. “Yeah, alright.” 

Eoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeo 

His back straightens as a warm rush of air hits his neck from the open doors a few feet beside him despite the chilly October evening. He glances to his left and sniffs the air, a peculiar smell infiltrating his senses. Another scent also wafts around him and a familiar tingle rushes through him. 

Licking his lips, he raises his eyes and searches the crowd for his son. 

He squints hard until one head pops up higher than the others and turns to look at him. 

He makes eye contact with the boy with light brown wavy hair that peeks through the slats of his costume and dark blue eyes that almost look purple in the dim lights. 

He nods slowly, deliberately and the young boy does the same before returning his focus back to his friends. 

He, on the other hand, checks his surroundings one more time before backing out of the gymnasium slowly, giving a brief smile to one of the mothers chaperoning, as he slides through the doors out into the hallway. 

There are a few other people standing around the lockers, other moms and dads he assumes, chatting quietly despite the loud kids and the music swallowing their voices inside. 

Continuing to walk slowly, continuing to calculate the distance between the folks nearby and himself, he navigates through the hallway trying not to seem crazy as he sniffs the air as unobtrusively as he can trying to find that peculiar smell again. He thinks he knows what it is... but he’d like to be proven wrong for the sake of everyone here tonight.

He continues but he realizes the scent isn’t the popcorn machine. It’s not the pizza nor the perfume or cologne from the men and women he passes by. 

Breathing in a deep rush of air, he almost gives up his search when he suddenly feels the air change around him, the stiffness an indication he may be close.

He’d found out a few years ago that he’d developed a bit of an excellent sense of smell that he’d never had before. 

Suddenly, a cool rush of air hits him as he passes by a door to what seems to be a closet. Narrowing his eyes, he looks around him making sure no one is watching before he pulls open the door. 

He is greeted with a gust of chilly air and a long staircase leading up to what he can only imagine is the roof of the school. His son has only been going here since the previous school year so he’s not as familiar with his surroundings as he’d like to be. 

Stepping up one of the stairs, he is suddenly greeted with the familiar scent again, the second of the two that had garnered his attention moments ago, and it almost puts him on his knees. 

He closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath, sucking in the fresh air above him. The smell wraps around him like a cocoon and he feels his body uncharacteristically warm from the inside out. 

It’s at the tip of his tongue, he almost says it out loud.  _ Her name. _

When he thinks about the possibility, he’s reminded of the past. He’s reminded of them. 

But he’s also reminded of the circumstance leading up to his current life. 

There’s a reason it’s been this way for as long as it has. To protect. 

He takes another step up the stairs, his pant leg tightening around his thigh as he strains against the urge to just sprint upstairs, to close the distance between him and the moonlight peering down at him. 

He takes another step, feeling his muscles ache from the restraint he exhibits by not lunging full force up to the top so he can just… get a glimpse. Another thing he’d noticed about himself over the last several years is his stamina. He’s been fit his whole life, but now, he finds exertion effortless.

A dark silhouette suddenly blocks out the silvery glimmer of light above him. 

He slowly raises his eyes and all he sees are two glowing red orbs staring back at him, and then darkness as the rooftop door closes behind the figure. 

A rush of disappointment flows through his veins as he licks his lips, drowning the yearning with a thick swallow. “I’m sorry, I thought the roof was empty.” 

“Don’t be sorry,” a deep masculine voice echoes through the darkened stairwell. “I’m surprised you didn’t show up sooner.” 

His eyebrows furrow, and a familiar pain slices through his forehead, building up behind his eyes. 

“Do I know you?” he questions the other voice with his palm over his forehead. 

“Ahh, well sort of. I could smell  _ you _ when I walked in.” 

He swallows again, thickly, and presses his palm against the wall next to him to help navigate through the pitch darkness. 

“Smell me? Look here, I don’t know what sort of game you’re playing but you need to open the door. I think someone I know is up there.” 

“It is open,” the deep voice taunts. “But there’s nothing up there for you.”

Running his fingers across his forehead, he feels the hair on the back of his neck rise and a warmth encumber him, and an unmistakable smell infiltrates his nose. He has an answer to that peculiarity from earlier.

It’s a mixture of wet dog and … _ blood. _

“I’m not here to start trouble. It’s my kid’s school Halloween party. I just wanted some fresh air.” 

“Fresh air?” 

“Yes.” 

“So, you’re telling me that you weren’t … attracted to her smell?” 

“Wh--” he stutters. 

Knowing he needs to keep a handle on the situation, he tries to keep from closing his eyes, using his other senses since he’s shrouded in darkness. He only blinks, but in the nanosecond, it takes him to reopen his eyes, two siren red orbs peer at him from only inches away,  _ “I don’t think it’s fresh air you need.” _

Elliot is suddenly hyper aware of his situation and he feels his muscles hardening under his clothes in response, preparing for escalation. 

“You’re not welcome here,” he finds himself growling from deep within.

“Now, that isn’t fair. You get to roam the streets and little old me is the issue?”

“You need to leave her alone. You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

“I’ve only been here for a few months.”

“It’s Halloween.  _ Time is ticking. _ ”

“Oh… well if that’s the case, then you might need to get to her fast, huh? You just have to make it to the top in order to get to her.  _ If _ … you can get past me,  _ Elliot. _ ” 

_ Elliot? _

The way his name rolls off the other figures tongue sends a razor-sharp chill down his spine.

_ Shit. _

_ e _ oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeo 

Blinking several times, Olivia rushes to sit up but she’s quickly greeted with the cold concrete when she loses her balance. Her left side is numb from laying too long on it and she begins to feel the pin pricks in her extremities. 

She desperately tries to squint her eyes to regain focus so she can see where she is. 

Remembering talking to her son earlier, she quickly recollects that she has to be near his school. It’s chilly, a cool breeze keeps hitting her lower back where her shirt and jacket have ridden up from her position. 

She slides her leg back and forth against the ground and her foot hits something hard and sharp. 

Slowly, she brings her foot backwards and she’s able to move her head enough to look down at her legs. By her foot is a shard of glass from the bottle of green tea she does remember drinking from but how it got there in pieces, she’s unclear of. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tries to focus on feeling around, planting her hand on the ground so she can push herself up. 

As she puts strain on her bicep, she is immediately greeted with an intensely sharp pain in her chest and back, and she has to let herself flop back down onto the cold surface below her in order to breathe.

Her skin feels on fire and her head throbs like ice picks being stabbed into her brain. 

She feels like crying but she knows she’s got to hold it together in order to figure out the clues of what is happening to her right now.

Trying to push herself up with one arm becomes impossible when her numb side pulls her back down. 

Before she is able to put any weight onto her arm again, she is released from her strain when a pair of cold hands reach under her armpits and lift her up to her feet. 

Whiplash almost overtakes her from the quick movements until she’s able to steady herself on her feet.

She has to take a deep breath in order to hold off the pain in her left arm as the needles take hold of the feeling in her left side. 

She pants, blowing out long breaths between her lips before reaching behind her head and rubbing a large knot that’s formed on the base of her skull.

Trying to take a step, she stumbles a bit and that’s when she feels the emotion bubbling up. She’s got to get a hold of herself. She needs to find Noah. She needs to get them both home. 

Except, she has no idea what time it is. If only she could remember what happened. 

A large hand grips her left shoulder and she hisses in pain when the needles intensify. She suddenly remembers being lifted with ease from off of the ground. 

“I’m sorry,” a baritone voice comes from behind her. Her back straightens and suddenly the pain throughout her body goes to the back of her mind as the familiar voice stops her in her tracks, “They’re just phantom pains, they’ll subside.”

Slowly, timidly she turns her head and she almost passes out when she sees him. 

He’s pale and the color of his skin matches the feeling of his cold fingers as they had dug into her. 

His lips are salmon red against his pale skin and his eyes aren’t the familiar crystalline blue she’d come to recognize so well for over thirteen years. 

Instead, they’re a light, icy blue with dark black rings around them. His pupils are so, so small even though the darkness is shrouding them. She shouldn’t be able to see them so clearly. 

Her throat becomes dry when she wants to speak. 

“Nice contact lenses. But you can’t hide behind them, I’d recognize those eyes anywhere,” she whispers as her body starts to go lax. 

She feels the blood rush from her head before she realizes what is happening. 

She’s about to faint and she wonders if his face will haunt her still when she wakes up. 

She’s not even sure she wants to with the way the pain flows through her veins, the way her whole body aches as it all registers in her mind once again. 

Her vision starts to fade, and she anticipates the cold hard ground on her skin again, but instead, as she feels herself slip, the hardness of the ground is replaced by his ice-cold hands.

They create a chill against her skin that even her jacket can’t protect her from even in her state of near unconsciousness. She wonders if she’s dying, if his face is her last attempt at accepting her fate. It’s been nearly ten years and his face still shows up in her darkest moments when her conscience needs him the most. 

Maybe she should have called him. It’s not fair for him to hear she’s died on the rooftop of her kid’s school. 

Her vision finally goes black and the last thing she remembers is the way his eyes began to turn a shade darker, almost magenta as he had stumbled toward her, reaching for her in an attempt to keep her from falling.

Except, he’d been too late. 

oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe 

He can’t believe his eyes. 

He’d been right, he had known the moment he’d caught that scent that she was there. 

He had felt the familiarity that had been lost long ago... until tonight. 

As he watches her sleep, he’s suddenly overtaken with an unlimited amount of grief that he has no idea what to do with. Their history was a lifetime ago it seems. His future is infinite now and he wonders if he should just let her be. If he should just slip back out like he slipped back in. But he can’t do that, no, not when she is going to need him.

  
He shakes his head. 

Olivia lies on her sofa with one hand curled against her breasts and the other curled on her waist. Her head is turned toward the back of her couch, exposing the smooth column on her neck to his gaze. 

He finds himself licking his lips and biting his bottom in order to drag his attention away from the taut and tantalizing skin. 

He’d taken in her figure, studied her new features while noting all the ways she was the same as before. Not like him, of course. She was still Olivia but… after everything he’d encountered; he couldn’t say the same for himself. 

She looks beautiful in her slumber but he imagines she always has. Her hair is lighter, blonder on the outside framing the darker hair underneath. Her lips are thinner, her eyes are more tired looking, but her figure is the same. 

He’d pulled off her suit jacket when he’d finally gotten them inside of her apartment, finding the wooden toy stake in her pocket before laying it on the coffee table. He’d quirked an eyebrow at his son who had accompanied him to her apartment. 

“A stake? They probably think we glimmer in the sunlight, too.” 

“I like her already, daddy.” 

He’d smiled and nodded his head at his son’s inquisitiveness. 

Now, he finds himself standing across the room from her, trying to keep his distance. His self-control is something he prides himself on, however, how relaxed she looks compared to earlier, well, it’s something of an aphrodisiac to him.

When she mumbles something softly, he finds himself gravitating towards her anyways. His son is sitting at the kitchen island behind him, watching his every move; learning, studying, memorizing.

Elliot moves to his previous position on the coffee table next to her. Reaching over, he brushes a strand of hair away from her face and tucks it behind her ear. 

She flinches at his touch and he has to jerk his hand away in order not to wake her. 

His hands are always cold. He finds himself constantly hovering them above the stove burners even in the summer time anymore. 

It’s one of the new attributes he had gained years ago along with his keen sense of smell, but not as welcome.

Olivia begins to whimper something when she turns her head toward him, eyes still closed as he realizes she is slipping closer to consciousness.

“No-” she mumbles. 

He looks over at his son and nods in a wordless plea. The boy returns his gesture before running over to the sink to grab a clean washcloth from out of a nearby drawer as if he’s already familiar with the kitchen. 

After wetting it under the faucet, he pads across the hardwood floors and places it gently over Olivia's forehead as she continues to moan softly. 

“She’s got concussion-like symptoms. It happens.,” he reiterates to the boy who stares curiously at the woman next to his father. 

“Is she… is she going to die?” he asks. 

“She should be fine,” Elliot answers quickly. “She was hit on the head with a glass bottle but it didn’t break skin. I’m surprised she recognized me. Anyone hit that hard would be disoriented.” 

“Dad?” 

“Yes, Eli?” 

“Do you think they got to her….” 

“ _ No. _ ” 

“You sure?” 

“I could… smell  _ her _ . They didn’t get a chance to…  _ you know.” _

“When will I be able to help you fight the Lycans?” 

“I don’t know. But in the meantime, we’ve got to get on the same page, okay? She was mugged. Got it?” he asks his son quietly. “She’s not ready to hear otherwise,” he whispers quietly in case Olivia comes too sooner than anticipated and hears him. The last thing he needs is her frightened even more.

Nodding, the young boy reaches over and touches Olivia’s cheek with his fingertips before looking back at his father, “Did you know her before?” 

Elliot looks down at his hands in his lap before nodding, “Yeah, she was my… partner.”  _ My other half. _

The young boy doesn’t answer, but instead watches his father for a few moments before sitting on the floor next to the couch. 

“No…. Where’s… No. No,” Olivia moans again, drawing both of their attention back to her. 

“What’s she saying?” Eli asks softly.

“I’m not sure.” 

“Noah…,” Olivia says clearly this time, “Where’s Noah,” she whispers. 

Elliot reaches over and rubs her cheek with his thumb, trying to coax her fully awake. 

“Noah…” she mumbles again. “Please… where’s my son?” 

“Shh,” Elliot coos at her as she begins turning her head side to side. 

“Where’s Noah? Where’s Noah?” 

Elliot gently shakes her shoulder and suddenly her eyes shoot wide open. 

Gasping, she raises her hands up in front of her face, as if shielding herself from an attack. 

Elliot quickly moves away from her, standing on the other side of the coffee table. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe.” 

“Where am I?” she asks as she looks around her darkened apartment which is only illuminated by the soft glow of her lamp beside the couch. 

“You’re home.” 

“How’d you--- where’s my son?” 

Sighing, Elliot returns to the other side of the table and sits on the edge facing her, “He’s at his friends.” 

“What?” 

“He’s with his friends at a slumber party.” 

“That doesn’t make sense. I thought I told him no. I’ve got to go get him.” 

“You were… incapacitated at the time. I had to do what I had to do. He’s safe. He’s with friends and their parents.” 

Olivia suddenly moves to sit up on the couch, the washcloth falls to her lap as she rubs her forehead, “Where’d you come from? How’d you know where I live?” 

Elliot takes a deep breath, not sure how to go about answering her question. He looks down at his son who glances at him from below and that’s when Olivia turns her attention to them both, looking at Elliot with furrowed brows before looking down at the young boy she hadn’t noticed before. 

“Eli?” 

He looks from his father to the woman he barely knew growing up. A bit of familiarity washes over his irises before he looks down at his hands like his father. 

“Yeah?” 

“ _ Oh my God _ ,” she gasps. “Eli? You look so different.” 

“I know. You saved me when I was born,” he says knowingly. “Daddy told me.”

“Yes,” Olivia rasps. “I was there when you… when you were born. You’re what…” Olivia pauses, seemingly trying to do the math in her head. 

Elliot clears his throat before she gets a chance to finish her thought, “Hey, lay back and rest, don’t overdo it too fast. We’ll help you until you’re feeling better.” 

Olivia nods then lays back, blowing out a rush of air through her lips. 

“Are you going to explain or do I have to piece this all together myself?” she asks, suddenly catching Elliot off guard. 

“Uh,” he stammers. “Which part?” 

Laughing softly, Olivia winces as a result. 

“What about tonight? The rest can follow,” she finishes with a tint of sadness in her voice. 

“Oh…” he offers, looking to his son again for answers the young boy shouldn’t hold. “We were both at the kids’ school Halloween party. When it ended, I saw your son looking for you but you were nowhere to be found. Imagine my surprise when he told me his mother was Olivia Benson.” 

“You met Noah?” she asks but it’s more of a statement. 

“Yeah, I must reek of a detective still, he came right up to me. Great kid, Liv. I’m happy for you.” 

Olivia bites her bottom lip before nodding again, “Thanks,” says as her voice cracks slightly. “He means everything to me. You sure he’s okay? I want to see him. I can’t remember what happened earlier.” 

“Yes, I promise. He’s safe.” 

Sighing, she relaxes against the pillow under her head. “I remember meeting him there, he just stayed after school today to help his teachers set up the party. I was supposed to help chaperone. But….” 

“It’s Halloween, it’s crazy out there this weekend. You were mugged on the way there,” Elliot quickly interjects. 

“I was?” 

“Yes.” 

“I don’t remember.” 

“You were hit pretty hard.” 

“I never saw or heard anyone coming. I should have been able to defend myself,” she whispers in self admonishment.

Elliot sighs, and tries to think of a way to reassure her. But nothing she could have done would have prevented the shapeshifting nuisance tonight. “You’re blaming yourself. That’s not like you.”

“I’m not a victim. I’m a cop.”

“You’re also… _ human, _ ” Elliot reassures, then quickly clearing his throat.

Olivia rubs the spot behind her head before looking back at Elliot with her dark eyes, questions swirling around her pupils still. A sadness lingers there and he knows it has everything to do with him and his disappearance.

He’s surprised she hasn’t kicked his ass. After everything, that’s one thing he’s sure she could still do and he’d take it like a champ. 

Elliot stares into her eyes trying to make her understand. He tries to mentally give her all the answers so he doesn’t have to voice the unimaginable. She keeps eye contact for long moments before looking away. 

“Where’s your family?” she suddenly asks. He doesn’t know what to say. It’s been him and Eli for a long time. Sometimes it feels like it’s always been that way, but he knows that’s not true and that Olivia isn’t a stranger to his previous life. 

Elliot clears his throat again before answering, “They’re out of the picture.” 

“What?” she asks incredulously. “What’s that mean?” 

“Exactly what it sounds like,” he answers coldly as he stands up and moves toward her window behind the couch. He doesn’t mean for it to come out so harshly but it’s the only way to keep himself from becoming…too attached too soon. 

Puffing out a breath of air, Olivia sits up on the couch again and he immediately turns back around towards her as she sways a bit even in a seated position. 

“Woah, you have a concussion. I wouldn’t move too fast.” 

She turns her torso around to look at him, “You let me fall asleep with a concussion? Elliot, we were always taught to stay awake with a suspected concussion in case of swelling,” she admonishes him. 

“I know, I’m sorry. But you seemed to be okay and I had been checking on you every few minutes.” 

“Why didn’t you take me to the ER?” 

“I uh…” 

“Did anyone call an ambulance?” she asks, her voice faltering for a brief second. “Where did you find me?” 

“In the alley, down the street from the school.” 

Shaking her head, she squeezes her eyes shut simultaneously. “I don’t remember any of that.” 

“It’s normal.” 

“Why were you in the alley?” 

“I wasn’t.” 

“But you said  _ you _ found me?” 

Sighing, he rubs his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. He doesn’t have a headache, but he knows that if he did, it'd be right in the middle of his forehead. 

“I  _ did _ .” 

Olivia goes silent for a moment, obviously confused by the situation. “None of this makes sense,” she whispers harshly. “I think I need to get checked out by a doctor. I might need a rape kit...” she shudders.

“I don’t think you should.”

She raises her eyes to him, giving a glare before pursing her lips, “What are you a medical expert now?”

“I just think… you need to take it slow.”

“What I think is, that you need to back off.”

Elliot swallows harshly, before biting his bottom lip, anger slowly slipping into his blood. “Okay, go for it. See what happens. They’re not going to tell you anything differently than what I did.”

“How do you know? Why are you so adamant?”

“Because … “

“Because what?”

“You know what? Let’s not fight. I don’t want my son to see that.”

Olivia physically deflates and he knows it’s a low blow but it works. She quiets and stares at her hands in her lap.

“So, when did Eli start school there?” 

“Not long ago.” 

Sighing frustratedly, Olivia glares at him again, “That’s not an answer.”

“August,” he relents.

“Okay, then,” she replies, less hostile. “Were you ever going to come around? If tonight hadn’t happened, would you have … ever come back?” she finishes in a whisper. “No hi, everything’s fine or anything?” she asks with watery eyes.

“I did come back. My son needed a new school.”

“I see,” Olivia murmurs quietly and he knows it’s not the answer she was looking for in the way she crumbles into herself.

He knows he can’t tell her the real reason why he’d stayed away. Not right now. He’d wanted to come to her so many nights. He wants to tell her that he stayed away to protect her but he knows she’ll refuse to accept that. So, he stays silent.

He watches as her eyes slowly drift up his body as a light clicks on inside of her jumbled mind. He almost feels the accusation on his skin before she says anything. He reads her mind like a book and it reminds him, they are not the same as they were before.

“How old is Eli now?”

“Why?”

“I just want an honest answer from you, that’s all.”

The following silence from him answers some unasked question from her he realizes when she shakes her head, “I keep getting vague and none answers from you. I don’t know what to think right now, Elliot. Are you in some sort of trouble?”

“No.”

“What about Eli?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is Eli in the same grade as Noah?”

“ _ Yes.” _

Nodding slowly, she bites her bottom lip. 

“That’s what I thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You've lost your mind.”

“Olivia... you’re not thinking straight. Everything will make sense when you’ve gotten some rest.”

“Of fuck that! I can’t believe this. What is happening? Was I really mugged?”

“ _ YES,” _ he hurls out, seeing the wheels turning in her head, and knowing his time is limited before hell breaks loose. Literally.

“Then why am I not at the station reporting it? Why did you bring me here instead of the E.R.?” 

“Because…” 

“Because what?” 

“ _ Then you’d know, _ ” he offers solemnly, not knowing what else to say to her. 

She pauses and then stands up. She sways a bit before she gains her bearings, turning to him and glaring, “Know what? You’re not making any sense,” she says in a deep tone. 

“It doesn’t have to make sense. I can take care of you. You’re safe now.” 

“Where’s Edgar?” she asks suddenly and Elliot’s back straightens. _ Shit. _

He’s silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to weasel out of this one. 

When he doesn’t answer, Olivia becomes suspicious, walking over to him and staring at his profile as he looks out the window. 

“He’s dead,” he deadpans. He doesn’t care for formalities now, he has to get it out in the air. They wouldn’t be here otherwise. 

“What?” she asks in disbelief, her mouth agape. “You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you?” 

“He tried to kill you,” he growls out as he turns his head toward her, locking eyes with hers. “I found you before he could.... He could smell my scent when I was getting close. He hit you in the head with the bottle to keep you from running. Unfortunately for him, I got ahold of him first before he finished the job.” 

“What …. Are you talking about?” she exclaims. “I must be in the Twilight Zone,” she whispers to herself, as she rubs her temples.

“No,” he rebuts, “you’re very, very much in reality.  _ He _ ...on the other hand. He wasn’t like you.” 

“Well... obviously.” 

“No, you have no idea,” Elliot retorts sharply. 

“You sound crazy, Elliot,” she grates out, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you pranking me? Is this some Halloween joke you’re playing?” 

“This isn't a prank. This is real. You trusted me before, I need you to trust me now.”

“You’re making it very, very hard,” she whispers.

“I wish I could make you see. But you have to believe me. He was no good for you or your son. He had a vendetta.”

“Well if that is true, that was up for me to decide.” 

“He was … dangerous.” 

“Again… for me to decide,” Olivia hisses, hitting her chest with her index finger with each syllable.

“You don’t need to decide anything. He’s out of the picture.” 

“Elliot, let me tell you something, I know it’s been ten years and you may think that you still have some sort of claim on my wellbeing, but you don’t.  _ Not anymore.” _

“No… not this time. You can’t outrun this.” 

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do! I’m a big girl, Elliot. I can handle Edgar. In fact, I’m going to go over there now and talk to him. What did he say to you? What did you say to him?” 

“He’s not there.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Because. He. Is. DEAD.” 

“Elliot…” she pauses. “You’re starting to scare me.” 

“Well you’re lucky scared is all you are right now instead of dead.” 

“Did… did you kill him?” she asks hoarsely, tipping her head to the side. “Did, did you take him somewhere? You can tell me. I promise, you can tell me.”

He doesn’t answer, just stares back out the window and he can see her reflection in the window, her arms hanging loosely at her sides and despair starting to cross her features.

“ _ Elliot, _ ” she pleads.

“He was a  _ werewolf, _ ” he pushes out quickly as he turns around to face her again. 

Olivia furrows her eyebrows before they raise to her hairline, a guttural laugh escaping her lips, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Are you serious, Elliot? Are you serious right now? You’ve been gone for nearly ten damn years and come back with this load of bullshit? Is this your idea of some joke? And you got your son involved? How’d you even know about Edgar? Are you watching me?” 

“I wasn’t watching you. I was with my son at his party,” he reiterates with agitation in his voice, he can’t help it.

“Yeah, that’s what you said.” 

“I’m not playing,” he says darkly, boring holes into her eyes as she glares at her. 

“Oh really,” she doesn’t hesitate. “Your son? Who should be thirteen years old and a freshman in high school now?” she asks as she looks over at Eli who is staring at them both wide eyed, his young boyish features apparent in the low lighting of the living room. 

Olivia pauses, looking over at him, seemingly aware at how the numbers aren’t adding up and Elliot has nothing to say to refute what he knows she’s thinking. 

“I’m not playing games, Olivia,” he tries to deflect. 

She shakes her head doubtfully, as she walks over to Eli who is now standing against the kitchen island again, darting his attention between Olivia and his dad. 

“Eli?” 

He looks up at her with his light blue eyes surrounded by the black eye makeup he’d had on earlier. Olivia reaches to him and he scurries away from her touch, afraid that she’ll know their secret if she does, Elliot realizes. 

“Eli? Are you really Eli?” Olivia asks as she points her open hands at him.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Elliot groans. 

Coming to stand next to his father, the young boy leans against Elliot’s leg before nodding, “Yes. I’m Eli Stabler. I’m nine years old. I was born on November 14, 2007… You were there...you held me.” 

Olivia’s mouth drops open with her hands hovering awkwardly in front of her now as she shakes her head. 

“That’s what I thought,” she whispers raspingly. “It’s 2020, you should be… almost thirteen years old baby. Not nine.” 

“I am. I just look nine. I’m just different. I think I always will be. Right, Daddy?” Elliot clenches his jaw as his son clings to him. Glancing down, his song looks up at him with watery eyes and he can feel something happening to him as well, but he’s sure there are not tears forming, “Right, Dad?”

Swallowing back the bile in his own throat, he looks at Olivia who is wide eyed in front of them, “He’s nine. End of story,” he rumbles. 

“Elliot…” she whispers. “I know I took a hit to the head, but I’m pretty sure I know math still,” she retorts, her hands still hovering in the air as if trying to talk down a hostile witness. 

“Eli is fine and you will be too. You... just need to calm down.”

After raising an eyebrow, Olivia shakes her head in admonishment of his choice of words. She then moves around the table and inches closer to them, her hand dangling closely to Eli’s shoulder before she gently grabs the small boy and brings him close to her, “No,” she whispers harshly, “I don’t think you are. I think you should go. I think--” 

“What are you doing?” Elliot barks. “Where are you going?” 

“We’re not going anywhere. But you are.” 

“What do you think you’re doing with my son?” 

“He’s going to stay here, with me. I don’t think you should take him ...with you tonight. Wherever that is.” 

“ _ Olivia _ , now you’re the one acting crazy. You can’t kidnap my kid. Eli, come here.” 

“No, Eli… stay here. Your father and I need to talk, privately. Out in the hall,” she says stoically, keeping eye contact with Elliot as she lets go of Eli’s shoulder. “Feel free to turn the television on. Noah has a bunch of movies saved.” 

“Okay,” the little boy says, eyeing both of the adults standing before him. Elliot nods and the boy does what Olivia says. He walks into her living room while Olivia bores holes into Elliot’s face and he feels the intensity on his chilled skin. 

Not looking away from him, she leads him to the front door before turning and unlocking the locks and then slinging the heavy wood door open and stepping out. 

When he meets her outside, pulling the door closed behind him, Olivia is in his space almost immediately, her finger pointing in his face. 

“I don’t know what sort of game you’re playing, but I’m not into it. You’re acting insane, giving all these vague, mysterious mixed signals. Who’s that kid? Did you and Kathy have another one? Hmm? Makes sense. You disappeared in 2011, that’d make him nine.” 

“No,” he sighs, “that’s not what happened.” 

“Oh?” Olivia raises her brows. “Then how do you explain that your son thinks he  _ is  _ nine but isn’t nine? I was there! I was there when he was born and I’m pretty sure it was in 2007. Next he’s going to tell me he’s Eli, but not really Eli.” 

Swallowing, Elliot wipes his hand down the back of his head before moving around to pace in front of her door. 

“It’s not a simple explanation, Olivia.” 

“Any explanation would do,” she relents. “Anything.” 

Feeling the anger build inside of him, he sidles up to her, getting into her space, “I tried to!” 

Her eyes narrow, and her breaths come out in heavy wisps from her nose, “You haven’t tried at all,” she says before pressing her hand against his shoulder and pushing him away. “Don't get in my face.” 

Scoffing, he steps back and scratches his chin, “Same to you.” 

She turns and glares at him, “Answer me,” she whispers harshly. 

“I did.” 

“No, you haven’t. Not really. How do you know Edgar? How’d you get into my apartment? Why is your son in the same grade as mine? The list goes on.” 

_ “I told you that much already.” _

“And it was BULLSHIT.” 

“Don’t yell,” he grates out. “Your neighbors.” 

“They can go to hell. All of you can,” she says as she starts to walk down the hallway. 

He follows in step behind her, “It’s complicated.” 

“How?” she asks, whipping around to face him. 

“You won’t understand. Not yet.” 

“I can’t understand what you won’t tell me.  _ The truth _ .” 

“I tried to. I told you the truth about Edgar, and you looked at me like I had twelve heads.” 

Laughing softly, she closes the distance between them again, “Elliot… it was a costume.” 

“I wish it was,” he whispers soberly. “I wish this was all an act. But it isn’t.” 

Crossing her arms over her chest again, Olivia steps in closer to him. 

“Are you on something, Elliot? Did you go on medication when you left? Did you forget to take them tonight?” 

“Taking pills when you feel nothing is a little redundant,” he snarls sarcastically. “I didn’t kidnap my own goddamn son. I’m not crazy. He’s exactly where he’s supposed to be. With me.”

“Oh okay, well that settles it then,” she says rolling her eyes before walking back toward her apartment door and reaching for the doorknob. 

Before she has a chance to turn it, Elliot swoops in quickly and grabs her hand tightly around the cool surface and squeezes. 

“I don’t think you understand. He’s not in danger from me, from you, from anyone.  _ You are. _ ” 

Her gaze moves from the skin to skin contact on the doorknob up to his eyes and hers go wide just as her face goes pale. 

Her eyes reflect all he needs to know of what is staring back at her. 

He’s seen it in too many other eyes before. He thanks his lucky stars for the restraint he possesses currently. The way his gums tingle when the pulse point of her neck throbs from her anger then shock, makes it difficult not to end this charade right then and there.

His eyes slips closed when she reaches for him. Despite the uncertainty she’s exhibited at his reappearance, she still chooses to reach for him. He reaches for her too because touching her is the only thing he fears is real to him anymore.

He can’t help the shudder that vibrates through his body when her fingers touch his lips. Her thumb pushes at the corner of his mouth, and he can feel himself grimacing as she exposes the sharp canine.

At her gasp, his eyes fly open and he’s thankful for the way his hands had instinctually gone to her hips so he can catch her as she faints. 

eoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeo 

His son is sleeping on the sofa with movie Coco playing in the background on the television. 

She hears the muffled dialogue through her bedroom door. The sound would be comforting if it wasn’t for the current situation she finds herself in. 

She’d been awakened by the sound and found herself in her bed. When she’d seen him sitting there, realizing what she had seen wasn't a dream, she’d gasped and rolled off the edge of the bed and planted herself firmly against the wall in the corner as far from him as she could get.

“You know you don’t have to hide in the corner from me,” Elliot murmurs as he sits on the edge of her bed. He is facing away from her, his body positioned toward the bedroom door and she feels like if she tries to edge toward it, it might set him off. 

“I feel safer.” 

Sighing, Elliot rubs a hand down his face and lets his palms rest against his thighs. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” 

“I don’t know what I saw,” she says quickly. 

“Please. You don’t have to prete--” 

“Please tell me you have contact lenses in. Fake teeth.” 

His shoulders visibly deflate in front of her. “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry? Then what was that? That… what I just saw… What I felt...  _ that wasn’t you,” _ she whispers. 

“Well like you said, I’ve been gone for ten years. How do you know what _ I am _ ?” he asks sharply and goosebumps formulate all over her skin at the tone of his voice.

Watching his head fall between his shoulder blades, she finds the courage to move from her position in the corner as far away from him to the other side of the bed. Pressing her knees into the mattress, she scrapes her fingers across the fabric of her bedding before she speaks, “Are you sick?” she tries to rationalize what she saw in his eyes… in his mouth. 

Scoffing, he shakes his head before turning around and looking at her, his eyes back to a normal shade of blue. 

“I’m a monster,” he whispers, his eyes furrowed with sadness. 

The look on his face kills her. This is not what she had imagined when she thinks back on all the ways she’d fantasized about seeing him again. 

She’d never would have thought she’d feel like she was inserted into an episode of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. But here they are. 

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she offers. 

“I’ve hurt people.” 

Her breath hitches, “How so?”

“When I said that Edgar wasn’t like you, I was talking about myself as well.”

“I’m trying to understand. I’m try- trying to be more open minded.”

“I know. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now.”

“I’m just confused.”

“I know and I wouldn’t wish this life on my worst enemy.”

“What life is that?”

“You see, Edgar and I may be of… opposing species but we’re both…  _ monsters _ . We both feed on the energy of the unsuspecting, we both--”

“What… what are you?”

Turning back around a bit of self-admonishment overtakes his tone, “Imagine spending sixteen years fighting the bad guys just to have your life turned into ...what? A Horror movie?” 

“What horror movie?”

He sighs, loudly, before answering her in a serious tone that she’s so profoundly familiar with, “Does _ Interview with a Vampire _ ring a bell?”

Taking a shaky breath, she eases her way around the bed and glances at the door before stopping at the foot. “You’re telling me you’re living the real-life version of a vampire movie from the 1990’s? Please tell me there’s a punchline in there somewhere.” 

“Olivia,” he starts in that same serious tone. “You need to listen carefully. Will you listen? Don’t interrupt, don’t scoff, anything... that makes me angry,” he requests in a deep tone.

Olivia swallows thickly before speaking, “It’s not like I’ve never seen that before,” she says offhandedly. “The job… it really ate at you. It changed you in some ways. I knew your anger was directed at the evil we saw.”

“It was never my intention to hurt you. It never will be.” 

“Why would you hurt me?” she asks. 

“It’s not a choice. It’s who I’ve become. I try to control the impulse when I’m around people I...  _ love. _ ” 

She tries and fails to keep her bottom lip from quivering. “Tell me, what’d you do?” she whispers softly, her voice cracking slightly. Thinking of all the possibilities, mostly bad, she tries to fight the urge to believe he had anything to do with why his family is no longer in the picture besides a little boy she’s still not one hundred percent sure is Eli. 

“I’ll tell you everything. It’ll explain a lot. Then you can do with it as you will. I can hear your questions.” 

Her breath wavers when he says it. “My questions?” she asks carefully.

“You think I hurt them. You still question my paternity for Eli.” 

“How? How do you know that?” 

He looks back at her, his thick upper body twisting to look at her next to him, “Sit. I’ll tell you everything.” 

For some reason, she follows the command from his deep, silky voice realizing it's a way of reassuring her in the only way she’s allowing him to right now. He’s trying to build her trust again and deep down she knows Elliot is in here somewhere.

So she listens. 

She sits down next to him, not able to contain the way her body shivers from the uncertainty swirling above them. She’s cold, confused and on edge. 

He reaches over and touches her hand sitting next to her thigh and it’s surprisingly warm against her skin and she tries to concentrate when he begins to speak, “It had been four years since I’d left the job,” he starts. His hand turns over and lets her hand lay against his curved palm as he talks, allowing her space to move it if she wants, she realizes. “Mo, came home… for me. She’d been in D.C. working at some law firm. When she heard what happened she’d begged me to come visit her but I hadn’t been thinking straight. By the next time she asked, I hadn't been doing good. I’d been in a depression, so she came home, scooped up Kathleen, Dick, Liz, Eli, Kathy and Me from New York.” 

He stops, swallows harshly, “She said that she wanted to get my mind off of everything. She was going to find me a new shrink,” he laughs. “But first she was going to take us on a family vacation to Italy. We travelled up and down the coast for a month. Only, Kathy and I had been separated for two years. Again. We all played it off like a happy family though. It seemed like we were all living a different life.” 

“What happened?” 

“It was all fine until that last week. We travelled by boat to some abandoned island off the coast of Italy. It was a special tour they do every once in a while. It supposedly was a drop off for people dying of the plague. Lots of history. They let people there during the day, and the …. Drake… he was the man who drove the boat there and who was supposed to be our tour guide.” 

Elliot stops, and Olivia purses her lips trying to piece together silently what he’s saying. 

“There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else there that day. We were told we had it to ourselves for the afternoon.” 

“Something went wrong,” she guesses. 

Elliot nods his head solemnly. “Very. He wasn’t… he was evil,” Elliot says with a dark blank expression. “He had a sharp jaw, narrow eyes, and long ponytail like  _ Lestat. _

“From that movie.”

Nodding, Elliot makes eye contact with her before continuing, “It’s almost laughable at how similar they are until I remember what he did. He sank the boat on the coast and when I caught him coming back up to shore, I confronted him. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “Sparing the other tourists.”’

“What did he mean?” 

“He killed them all,” Elliot whispers tearfully. “He killed my family right before my eyes. Eli and I had been exploring an old building while Dickie and the girls had been walking a trail around the island.” 

Shaking her head, her heart sinks to her stomach, her pulse pounding harshly in her ears. The tears well up in her eyes and somehow, the truth seems tangible now with the way his emotions spill out so visibly. 

“He  _ killed _ them?" she pushes out through the emotion sitting on her chest. 

Elliot turns to her, his eyes are red around his irises, clearly distraught as she is. “Yes.” 

“Why not you and Eli?” 

“He didn’t need us. He needed them.”

Shaking her head, she moves her hand inside of his for the first time, grasping his fingers with her own, squeezing them. 

“Please… this can’t be true.”

“He fed on them.” 

“Fed.. fed on them?” she gasps, an eyebrow quirked so high he thinks it might attach to her scalp.

  
“Like an animal.  _ But worse.” _

Her mind races, her breaths labored and again she finds herself asking, “But, why not you two?”

He looks at her with such anguish in his eyes, “Because he was full.”

“That’s what he said? Seriously?” she questions, the anger in her voice affecting her tone.

He nods, connecting his intense eyes with hers again, staring deeply, daringly into hers as he speaks, “Serious as a heart attack. As a stroke. As a hurricane. As an earthquake. As a blackhole eating everything in its path,” he whispers. 

Shuddering next to him, she removes her hand and lifts it to his cheek, “Are … are you a --?” she tries to ask but can’t finish her thought, feeling ridiculous and confused. 

“He spared Eli and I death, by turning us like him -- he said he was our sire. Like hell. We’d seen the aftermath of what he’d done. He couldn’t let us live. Lucky for Eli, he had no idea what was happening at the time. He doesn’t know he’s dead but he does know what he  _ is _ though. He knows we’re not like everyone else. We show restraint. I’ve taught him what we can and can’t have. Otherwise...” 

Gasping, Olivia stands up and moves a few steps away from him, her back hitting her closed bedroom door. 

Dead. 

Dead. 

Dead. 

It’s the word still ringing in her mind when she finally finds her voice again, “Eli. That Eli sleeping right out there?” she points her finger behind her, insinuating the sleeping form of his son on her sofa. 

“We have to change his school every year because he doesn’t age. People get suspicious when he still looks nine when he’s supposed to be a teenager. I don’t like keeping him away from kids his age... yet. Until it’s an issue, he’ll stay in school.” 

“That’s how he knows Noah?” 

“They have some of the same friends this year.” 

“Noah is eight,” Olivia ruminates, staring off to the side as she thinks. “He likes dance class, he watches animated movies, he’s outgoing, he still wears his onesie pajamas. Eli is stuck in that phase over and over.” 

Elliot nods, “I don’t sleep much, but everytime I do… I hope every time I open my eyes, that it’s a nightmare. But it’s not. We can go into the light. We can interact with other people. We can control our urges. But he’s nine years old and I’m forty-nine years old  _ forever _ at the end of the day. Only his mind still ages. Just not his body.” 

Olivia covers her mouth, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. 

“You’re dead too,” she barely says above a whisper. 

“But I’m here. You can see me. I’m not a ghost.” 

“But … you’re-- you’re dead.” 

Exhaling, Elliot looks down before nodding, “Four years. Eight months. Two hundred some odd days.” 

“I’m older than you now. I’ve passed you by. I’m fifty-two.” 

Elliot glances at her, running his eyes over her body before returning his eyes to her face, “But still beautiful.” 

Sneering at his choice of words, she’s suddenly overtaken by a feeling that she’s been had. It’s the way he so brazenly says the previous words that confuse her again. He’d never openly said those things to her before. 

“If you had to create this whole elaborate story, on Halloween, to tell me that you think I’m beautiful, I would have to give it to you, it’s impressive and … effective,” she murmurs. 

Elliot looks up and the dark look in his eyes tells her everything she needs to know. “But it’s not a story is it?” she asks knowingly, finally able to accept the unimaginable. 

He is his feet in seconds, then standing in front of her with both of his palms planted on the door beside her head, his breath tickling her cheek when he speaks. 

“I would never make up something like this. I would never do that to you. It’s not my intention to deceive, it’s to protect,” he growls against her ear. The intensity in his words makes her believe him. 

He’s close, so close and she feels her body tighten and relax at the same time and she’s not sure what to do with the conflicting sensations bubbling inside of her at his proximity. She wants to trust him, she wants to believe this is a reality and not some trick of the mind or nightmare. She tries desperately to believe in him.

Pulling his face to hers with one of her hands, she grips his chin in her fingertips as she speaks, “I’m over it now, okay? I’m not mad. I just can’t believe you’d go this far…” she trails off. 

She feels Elliot slide his hands down the door until his palms are hovering above her shoulders. His eyes are emotionless, black… He leans in and skims his lips up her neck until they brush across her ears. Her breath escapes her lungs with the sensation infiltrating her veins.

“I could …sever your carotid right now. It’d be so easy to dig my teeth in,” he says sinisterly and the shock of his words causes her to pull away from him slightly but he’s got her caged in. 

Another icy chill runs across her skin again and when she looks up, his eyes have changed again. The dark blue that usually appears when he’s angry or emotional, is now an eerie dark maroon. 

“Elliot… how are you doing that?” 

He grins, “They change when I feel something and right now, I feel something,” he says in a low, sultry voice, as he scoots his feet in further, his body only inches from hers. 

“I like the act,” she says in a shaky voice. “You’re good,” she finishes in a whisper. 

“I can’t act,” he rebuts. 

“You could have fooled me.”

He licks his teeth, his tongue sliding agonizingly slowly across the smooth porcelain until it hits the sharp fang, causing a bit of blood to pool on his tongue.

Her breath shudders in response and suddenly she’s not second guessing him anymore and she supposes that was the point.

“I stayed away for a reason.” 

“Wh- what reason is that?” she stammers, trying to sound as confident as she possibly can in her predicament. 

“I knew it’d be hard not to smell you and not want to take you.” 

She turns her head away and she feels his warm breath on her neck but she doesn’t respond, she just swallows and tries to breathe. She didn’t have Elliot seducing her finally yet scaring the shit out of her on her 2020 bingo card. 

He continues, “I stayed away to keep you from seeing what I did. I stayed away to keep you from feeling any more pain.” 

“I don’t need you to protect me,” she whispers, her eyes closed from the sensation of his body closing in on her tightly, his muscular frame pressing into her. 

Elliot pulls away briefly to pull off his black suit jacket. Underneath, he’s got on a white long-sleeved dress shirt with some of the top buttons undone already, his thick chest exposed to the dim lighting in her room. 

He pulls her toward him again by the waist and whispers into her ear again “We’re not in the same reality as before. When I say protection, I mean between this and an eternity of darkness.” 

She feels the tension in her body subside and suddenly she doesn’t want to fight him, but rather she wants to let him take control of her. 

As if on cue, he moves in again. He pulls her away from the door and sits her down on the edge of the bed, fingering the edge of her dark blue dress shirt. He is all quick movements, touching the fabric of her shirt, her pants and testing her will to let him go farther. 

He goes for the buttons on her work trousers and she feels like she is being transported by some outside force, looking down from above. A rush of adrenaline shoots through her, she thinks, as he fingers the zipper of her pants, sliding it down as she lies backwards against her linens. 

He’s pulling the fabric down her legs, and her mind is telling her this is just them, it’s just her and Elliot finally moving past that last barrier they’d tiptoed so carefully around for twenty years, until now.

A blast of cold air hits her skin like a blizzard. She’s exposed, naked, raw and inhibited.

His voice chimes in like silk across her skin, “I could sever your iliac,” his breath hits the crevice between her thighs. 

Her eyes are closed when she asks, “Why?” 

“Those are some of the most valuable veins in the human body. They’d allow you to bleed out so fast. A vampire's dream,” he whispers.

He finally lowers his lips in between her parted thighs, spreading her arousal around with his tongue and she vibrates. She has to rationalize that tonight was all a build up to this moment. That this somehow is the beginning of something, yet she’s not sure what exact. 

He clears her muddled brain when his lips capture and release her, pull and push and suck against her until she is throbbing from the inside out. His breath hits her center and her back raises off the bed.

Olivia gasps when she feels a sharp pain in her groin. Following, is the sensation of a rush of moisture running down the inside of one of her thighs. 

She looks down and Elliot is still moving his lips and she can't help but drop her torso back onto the bed. 

She suddenly feels his breath again as it hits her core with each of his words, “You could become something so… eternal with one, deep, bite,” he retorts as she swallows back a loud moan threatening to escape her mouth as he attaches his lips to her clit, causing her to clench hard against herself as she squeezes her thighs around his head. 

When the spasms subside, she looks down just as he kisses the inside of her thigh as she spreads them back apart. He looks up with a ghoulish grin and razor-sharp fangs. 

She jerks up feeling the blood sliding down her leg. 

Gasping, she reaches down and swipes her fingers across the wetness. 

“Elliot… how could you?” she asks in a shaky voice, “I wasn’t ready…” she trails off, feeling a dark aura starting to cloud her vision. She’s losing blood, fast and he’s holding onto her, feeding and taking away the last bit of light inside of her.

oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe

Olivia shoots up in bed, breathing heavily. 

She looks at her surroundings, noting that she’s inside her bedroom still. Nothing much has changed except one thing.

Elliot is sitting next to her in the rocking chair with his eyes closed but something tells her that he's not really sleeping. 

She pulls her legs over the side of the bed and just sits there rubbing her temples with her fingers trying to figure out what exactly had happened last night.

She must have dozed off at some point after they came back into her apartment and noticed that his son had fallen asleep on the couch. Not wanting to disturb him, they had decided to take their discussion to her bedroom. 

She thinks she has a pretty firm grasp on what did happen but noting her state of dress she realizes that only some of it actually did happen. 

“This isn't like the movies or television where they tease the audience for several decades with a will they or won't they. In real life people go for it. They don't wait until it's too late,” he says unexpectedly, his voice disturbing the quiet atmosphere around them. 

He rests his head back against the old wooden rocker, but peers at her from under hooded eyes, his hands on the armrests.

Olivia looks away as she contemplates his words. "Yeah but... there's always loss if it doesn't go well." 

"Not always," Elliot mutters. "Plus, not much else left for me besides this.” 

Feeling overwhelmed, Olivia closes her eyes and whispers the only thing that will distract her from his words. They’re too real, they’re too strong, they’re too material.

"I want my son. " 

She intentionally changes the subject, not quite sure what to do with their new reality. However, seeing her son after everything that has happened between them, would take a lot of pressure off of her chest, because then she'd know he is okay and if he is, then she is too. 

“I can do that. " 

Olivia turns her focus back to Elliot and locks eyes with him, a soft glow from the silvery moonlight dancing around her bedroom and washes over his pallid features. 

“You don't have to do anything else, Elliot. I think we've both had an eventful night and we both need some rest so I think I can take it from here. " 

"You don't know where he is, "Elliot says matter-of-factly. 

"Then tell me. " 

"Maybe it'd be best if we waited until tonight. " 

"Why? I’m tired of these games." 

“I think it benefits him if he stays away for a while. " 

"Elliot, I know you think you know what's best for me. You always have, but I think I know what's best for my son and what I want is to see him.” 

Sighing heavily, Elliot points to the window, “Try opening the curtains. You'll find that what's outside is not what it seems." 

Olivia furrows her eyebrows, confusion and worry infiltrating her veins once again. 

She knows she still has a lot to process and she knows her brain still isn't accepting what he’s been telling her but in the deep recesses of her mind and heart, she still trusts Elliot implicitly and always will. 

“What’s going on?” she asks as she watches his expression closely as she stands up and moves around the bed to reach for the curtains at her window. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “For everything. For leaving. For disappearing for ten years. For not getting to you in time.  _ For this. _ ” 

Her breath hitches and she can’t help the emotion bubble up inside of her, the moisture in her eyes and the way her hands shake. 

“Elliot… you’re scaring me,” she responds softly. 

“You’ll get used to it,” he retorts. “Everyone does.” 

Quickly, she turns around and whips open the curtain and is immediately greeted with an orange glow hitting her right in the face. She immediately covers her eyes with her forearm, before quickly removing it to glance at the sky. 

A solar eclipse phases across the sun and it’s then, when her skin starts to tingle with the tiny pin pricks of burns. It’s then that she realizes that it wasn’t the moonlight spilling into the bedroom, it was the shadows of the eclipse as the earth spins into alignment with the sun and the moon. 

She lets go of the curtain as if it burns her as well, letting the fabric block out the rays. 

“What’s happening?

“It’s the solar eclipse. It’s pretty normal.”

“It’s 2020.” 

“Liv,” he begins, trying to calm her with his voice, sensing her hysteria building she realizes.

“But the next solar eclipse isn’t supposed to happen until 2024.” 

Sighing, Elliot stands up and walks over toward her, gently reaching for her cheek, cupping it before running his thumb over her skin, “Olivia… it is 2024.” 

Taking in a shaky breath, she pursed her lips before a tear involuntary spilled down her cheek, “How? I was just talking to you last night. It was still 2020.” 

“It’s part of the process. You were asleep.” 

“Asleep? Last night… last night we…” she stutters.

“That night… last night... was four years ago. You’ve been sleeping, and now that the next solar eclipse is occurring, you’ve awakened.” 

“I don’t understand, Elliot please tell me you’re joking. I’m over this joke. I'm over this year. I’m over this Holiday.” 

“I wish I could take everything back. I thought I was quick enough.” 

“When?” 

“That night… on the roof.” 

Suddenly, her eyes close and she flashes back to that night when she’d walked up to the roof with Edgar. It all becomes clear then, his change in mood, the eerie red glow in his eyes that did not look natural, the sideburns that seemed bushier once they were in better lighting from the moonlight and the way he seemed to loom over her. 

She remembers turning to look at the street below when he had told her that the trick or treaters liked to shine their flashlights up on the roof they were standing on, following an old superstition about a howling wolfman coming out of the shadows. 

It hadn’t even taken a second before she’d felt a searing pain in her shoulder. She’d tried to turn around but his mouth was lodged into her skin. His teeth, his mouth, his… 

Then he’d pulled away and she’d grabbed at the wound confused at what had happened and that’s when she felt the blow to the back of her head. 

“I scared him. He was going to … “ 

“Kill me,” she finishes in a whisper. 

“When I found you, you were bleeding out pretty badly. He’d gotten pretty close to your carotid artery but I think the blow to the head did the most damage.” 

Instinctually she moves her hand to the back of her head but there’s nothing there. 

Turning to Elliot in confusion, she moves closer to him. Pulling him closer to her by the lapel of his black jacket, she shakes him. 

“What happened? What really happened.” 

“When I found you...” 

“When you found me?” 

“On the roof.” 

“I wasn’t mugged. I was… “ 

“You were already gone. At least… up there,” he gestures to her head. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to lose you again. Not after everything we’d been through and the way I left. I wasn’t going to find you just to lose you again.” 

Olivia’s jaw trembles, her eyes blurring with dry tears. “Am I dead?” 

Elliot turns his head away from her, then turning back with his own reddened eyes, “I love you, Olivia.” 

Her mouth trembles, her lips part with labored breaths, “I love you too,” she feels herself say, though she feels numb. 

“You were brain dead. Your heart had stopped. He did everything but annihilate you or turn you into one of them. I saved you from death,” he says hoarsely. 

“How? If I’m … I’m _ like _ this.” 

“Maybe this isn’t death as you’ve seen it before. Maybe this is an alternative.” 

“Purgatory?” 

“An infinite future.” 

“What if I didn't want this? What if I just wanted to die gracefully? Peacefully? Wouldn’t you have chosen that?” 

“I did what I had to do. I wanted you to see your son again.” 

“My son?” 

“Yes. And I wanted to spend an eternity making it up to you for the way things ended.” 

“I’ll need an eternity and half of that to comprehend how crazy you sound. How crazy this all sounds.” 

“You’ll get used to it. For now, your son, he’s alive.” 

“Where is he? Is he at Jake’s?” 

“That was four years ago.” 

“What? I haven’t seen my son in four years.” 

“No.” 

“Where he is,” she feels herself begging, grabbing at his jacket again, “Where is he?” 

She pulls him toward her and he clenches his jaw, trying to hold his balance. “I’ll take you to him, tonight. When it’s dark.” 

“I can’t wait until it’s dark.” 

“You saw what just happened!” he shouts. “You saw the way you burned. That was only partial light. We’ll go tonight. I promise you.” 

Finally, she gives in and falls into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck. He instantly wraps his arms around her back, pulling her close. 

His fingers are not warm, but they still offer comfort in that moment. Olivia clenches and unclenches her fists against his collar, sobbing into his shirt for what seems like hours. 

When she settles down, she feels Elliot lead her over to the bed and lay her down. She closes her eyes as Deja vu overtakes her when he starts silently peeling her clothes off again and she welcomes it this time more so than the first.

She opens them briefly to him undressing, slowly discarding layer after layer to the side. She closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, he’s hovering over, his eyes somber yet full of the life she’d known was still in him all along. 

He leans down and kisses her lips, his body moving atop of her she instinctually opens her thighs to accommodate him. 

It’s all silent, even their breaths are mute as he moves his lips over her neck, her shoulder, her breasts, her nipples, her ribs, her stomach then back up again. He rubs himself against her and it is pleasure  _ intensified _ by a million. He’s slow, calculated, sure when he sinks inside, blasting powerful thrusts inside of her so that she forgets the eternal damnation. 

He’s all endless attention to her nipples as he sinks in and out of her, he pulls her into his mouth and releases her when he pulls away, only to sink his teeth into her neck as he pulls her open further, wasting no opportunity to give her something, anything to forget. She pulls hm in deeper, clawing at his back, his hips, his ass and in return, he whispers in her hears, he tells her to let him fuck her. It’s the only way to push the lingering denial away and allow the acceptance deep, deep, deep inside of her

She grabs his face, pulling it down as he moves inside of her, and kisses his neck before sinking her own teeth into his skin. He growls from the pain, but he continues to move.

He kisses her while he fucks. He growls again when he comes. 

Pulling away from her grip, he raises his head and feels his neck before looking at the red stain on his fingers. He looks into her eyes and a small smile formulates on his lips.

It’s one last thing he does that sends her over the edge. 

Moving down her body, he stops suddenly and palms her right breast in his hand, lifting it up before kissing the tender skin beneath it. She hisses at the sensation and immediately grasps his hand. 

“What is that?” she whispers in question. 

Instead of answering, Elliot laps at the tender skin with his tongue, massaging it until her head falls back against the pillow. He’s still inside of her so he thrusts one more hard time and she shatters around him. 

She’s panting still when he pulls one of her hands towards where his fingers touch the underside of her breast. “Here. Feel.” 

She timidly follows his fingers and immediately feels two tender welts. 

“If I’d bitten your neck, you’d have found it sooner. You weren’t ready to know yet,” he offers before she asks. 

“How are they still there?” 

“They’re a birthmark now. You’ll always have them.” 

“Where’re yours?” 

Elliot lifts himself up on his forearms and crawls up her body, nudging her thighs apart as he lays down in between them. Lowering his head, he pulls his ear back and shows her the two bite marks hidden by the cartilage. 

Olivia rubs her fingertips against the spots before resting her hand on Elliot’s smooth face. 

“Will we always be like this?” 

“For the most part,” he responds, his breath hitting her chest. 

“Will I always be light sensitive? Will it always burn?”

“It’s only temporary. You’re still transitioning. After tonight…  _ it’ll get better. _ ”

“Will we… always be…  _ together _ ?” 

Elliot raises his eyes, blinking just long enough for the darker shade of purple to cloud his eyes. 

“There’s no way I’ll ever let you go now that I have you.” 

oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe

_ There’s no way I’ll ever let you go now that I have you. _

_ There’s no way I’ll ever let you go now that I have you. _

_ There’s no way I’ll ever let you go now that I have you. _

In an echo chamber, Olivia thinks she’d feel light as a feather with the sound of his voice ensconcing her for an eternity, but in a half-conscious stupor, she feels a heavy weight on her chest and that’s when she finally finds the strength to open her eyes.

She shoots up in bed and her chest heaves up and down with the exertion of a marathon runner just coming back from a twenty-six-mile run. 

She clenches her eyes tightly closed and purses her lips to slow down her breathing. She moves her hands around her body, feeling around her as her fingers brush across the blankets at her waist.

When she finally realizes where she is, her mind comes down from the clouded subconsciousness of her dream, allowing her muscles to relax and she falls backwards, her head hitting the soft pillow behind her. 

Staring at the ceiling, she takes in the warm light orange sunlight that peaks into her bedroom, dawn reminding her that the day is only starting and she’s already on edge. She happens to glance at her side and her breath hitches. 

_ Elliot _ . 

He is lying on his stomach, his upper body bare, his muscular arm bent at the elbow as his head rests on the top of his splayed-out hand.

At least some of her dreams weren’t a figment of her imagination. He’s here, right now, in her bed. She’s lying half under the comforter with only a tank top and bikini underwear on. 

Scanning his body, her eyes land on his open hand again and the gold wedding band on his ring finger.

Turning over to her side, she reaches gently for his face and uninhibitedly brushes her finger in between his lips, feeling his teeth.

Elliot reacts to her touch and opens his as she slowly retracts her hand from his face. 

Staring at her with hazy blue eyes, drowsy from sleep, he peers at her curiously as she stares back at him with her own curiosity. 

“You okay?” he mumbles with a grogginess in his voice.

Olivia reaches over to him and cups his cheek before pulling his ear forward and feeling behind it for any abnormalities. When she comes up negative, she pulls her hand back and reaches for her own mouth, running her fingertip underneath her upper teeth before sighing and letting her hand fall to the bed in between them. 

He continues to stare at her with a question mark above his head.

“I just had a weird dream,” she replies.

“Dream? Wouldn’t have to do with the...extracurricular activities from last night would it?” He asks impishly, nodding toward the red mark on her shoulder that she hadn’t noticed until that second. She looks down at the slightly reddened bite mark before whipping her head back towards him, eyes wide as she covers the mark and furrows her eyes at him, “I didn’t bite you that hard. In fact, you seemed to be enjoying it,” he says.

Clearing her throat, she lets go of her shoulder before leaning forward again, looking into his eyes with confusion as she scans his pupils. She cups his jaw once more, sliding her thumb into his mouth again, checking for the unexpected “Liv?” he garbles around her finger.

“I’m just...it just felt so real. What day is it?”

“Halloveen,” he mumbles.

“What?” she asks, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Then she realizes her finger is still in his mouth. She quickly pulls it away from him before apologizing. “Sorry. What year is it?”

“Jesus Liv, how much candy did you have last night at Noah’s Halloween party? It’s still 2020.”

Scoffing, she pushes the hair out of her face before laying her head back down on the pillow to face him. 

“Apparently not enough.”

“You seem on edge. Seems like a sugar rush wearing off to me.”

Laughing, she reaches over and skims her fingers across his cheek again, then pulling his lip out and letting it go with soft pop, “The only rush I remember is when you were putting melted chocolate in places that I’ve never thought of before. In fact, it should be outlawed” she grins, and he returns the gesture.

“I was good last night. In fact, I don’t recall you complaining much,” he laughs. 

Ignoring his comment, she looks down and then back up with him with a small smile, “I’m pretty sure I can still feel the stickiness.”

“Oh?” he perks his brow high, “want me to take a look?” He asks sheepishly, pulling up the covers and pretending like he's going to dive under them. 

“No,” she squeals as quietly as possible. “Eli and Noah are just down the hall.”

“We can be quiet again. I think we succeeded last night.”

“We’ll see when we see two traumatized kids in there in a few minutes.”

“Nah, they’re fine.”

“No, down boy,” she retorts.

“Fine,” he grins, returning back to his previously sheepish expression. “So... What kind of dream did you have? Sighing, she reaches for his hand next to his head and pulls it towards her chest. “That serious huh?” he questions as he pulls away from her hold and cups her cheek with his own thick fingers. 

“Let me tell you about this nightmare I had” she jokes. “I think I’m over Halloween already.”

“Wow, that’s a first.”

“Yeah,” she whispers, nodding her head. “I was dating Edgar.”

“That new Defense attorney?” Looking at him devilishly, she nods, “Oh man, I think I've heard enough.”

“No, you haven’t,” she pulls his face back to her, “After you ruined a set of my sheets with Reese’s peanut butter cups, you deserve to hear all the little details.”

“Liv… “he groans.

“Get over it old man. I married your cranky ass, so you can listen to this.”

“Okay, okay as long as you don’t go into detail about you and _ Edgar, _ ” he air quotes. 

“Oh, you’re gonna hear every last detail.”

A slow grin forms on his face and she knows that he’s up to something and before she can catch her breath to start her recollection of the insane nightmare she’d just had, he rolls over and grabs her and pulls her body half on top of his. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leans down and kisses him before looking at him with something akin to love, she thinks, though she has a sneaking suspicion it’s always been much deeper than that.

It’d taken them twenty years to get their head out their asses, but now, here they are, pretty content and in more ways than one, a family. Something she’d not had until Noah, and now he has siblings of his own. Blood isn’t always thicker than water she realizes. 

As she lays her head down on his chest, she begins recalling the vivid details of her sugar induced subconscious. But what she doesn’t see is the magenta glare in Elliot’s irises as the light outside peers through the curtains and shines directly on them from the early Saturday morning sun. 

Instead she takes comfort in the way his fingers glide up and down her skin, lazily tracing her shoulder in abstract lines. 

This Halloween is extra special and she definitely will not forget it.

**_finis./_ **


End file.
